A good point Con re flash. There are a few photographers who think that flash is harmful to birds and therefore believe it has no place in bird photography and therefore they would not enter a 'flash' comp. In some situations they are undoubtedly correct but in most cases I am confident that the bird suffers no harm whatsoever, especially with high-speed flash and daylight fill-flash. Then there are people who are not competent users of flash and some members will not have suitable flash gear. Perhaps the latter are good reasons why we should have a comp with a flash theme; it may encourage some members to have a go thereby learning a new and valuable technique. I think it is a worthy theme but expect there will be only limited support.

Totally valid points from Con and Ian.
I rarely use flash so the incentive of a competition, I thought might inspire me to make the effort to learn a new skill. Thoughtlessly, this may leave some of the entry-level members at a disadvantage.
Regardless, I still have to get off my behind and make an effort to learn.

Thank you all for your comments/suggestions. For some reason, I didn;t get notified of any answers and have only just seen them! (I suppose I could check more often....)

Hi Peter, re the use of flash, I am not that keen on it for night birds (and I notice that recent Audubon competition they explicitly prohibit photos of night birds taken with flash) - in any event those photos are rarely nice to look at. On the other hand, I too have been thinking I need to beef up on my skills with 'fill-in' flash which can be used with a natural effect. I recently purchased the online guide by Glenn Bartley on using flash like this - it is so well written and really a great guide you might want to get yourself too.: http://www.glennbartley.com/FlashEbook.html

and no I am not getting commissions! (ha ha)

Hi Georgina A guide for fill-in flash is just what I need so I will give that a go.
Thanks for the tip.

Hi Georgina,

I would be wary of topics such as Birds of the Simpson Desert as it is too restrictive on members. I have been but it was 5 years ago. My suggestions are:
Desert birds
Waders
Finch Frenzy